Negotiations
by DameonValkyrie
Summary: What would have happen if, during the events of TP, Ganondorf had decided he wanted negotiations between his people and Hyrule? Link agrees, and somehow convinces Zelda, and convinced the neighboring kingdoms to get involved, too. What long reaching effects will this have? And who are those two mysterious people from Ikana that Link knows? What secrets is Link hiding?
1. Report

**Author's Note:** I know I haven't worked on my FMAxHP fanfic, Reconnaissance, in a while, but I have had no inspiration, especially since I had worked on it while I was in the Hospital and just don't feel like continuing it. Maybe some other time I may feel inclined to do so, sorry. I had the ideas for this story roaming through my head for a while and I hope to keep working on this until it's finished. Enjoy and review!

**Warnings:** OCs, but there is a major reason why they are included. It's FanFiction, deal with it. May have Yaoi/Shounen-ai/slash/BoyxBoy, no likey no ready. Character Bashing- Zelda, Ilia and Sage bashing. A bit, alright a lot, OoC. Don't yell at me. Swearing. Violence.

**Disclaimer:** I do not nor have I ever or will I ever own_ The_ _Legend of Zelda _Series, but I can dream. All OCs are of my or my friend's creation, do not steal! My friend will find will you live, climb through your window and torture you until you delete everything with our characters in them. No we will not give permission for you to use our OCs, please do not ask. No Flaming Flamers.

* * *

Kingdom of Hyrule

Hyrule Castle

Queen Zelda Hyrule

Report of Shadow Invasion

Princess Zelda, of the Hero of Time's time, was informed by the Hero of Time of the events that would happen in the future. She realized that leaving Ganondorf to his own devices would cause the downfall of her kingdom.

Years later, Ganondorf was to be executed.

The Ancient Sages were to perform the execution in the Arbiter's Ground. However, in a twisted mockery of fate, Ganondorf was chosen to be the holder of the Triforce of Power, did not perish. In their panic, the sages used the Mirror of Twilight to banish Ganondorf into the Twilight Realm.

Ganondorf took the form of a dark god and promised the Twili Zant incredible powers and the throne of the Twilight Realm on the condition that Zant merge the worlds of Light and Twilight to create a Dark World. Zant agreed, and pledged his undying service to his new master. He used his newfound powers to transform the Twilight Princess Midna into an imp and take the throne before launching his invasion of the Light World.

The peace that reigned in the Light World for years was broken by Zant's army of Shadow Beats. Zant, now known as the King of Twilight, launched an invasion of Hyrule. Hyrule was unprepared. Zant gave Princess Zelda an ultimatum: Would she allow the kingdom to be destroyed by the fires of war, or surrender and allow Hyrule to fall under the domain of Twilight? The princess chose to surrender. Zant shrouded the kingdom of Hyrule in Twilight by stealing the powers form the Spirits of Light guarding each province. The people not realizing what was happening were filled with a shadowy fear.

Midna used the dark magic of her ancestors, the Dark Interlopers, to help me and my friend, Vali, when we were trapped in the Twilight. I was in the form of a wolf and Vali was in the form of a fairy. Twili legend said that the Hero of Light would appear in the form of a sacred beast: in this case, a wolf. Midna struck a deal with me, she would help us regain our human form if we helped her gather the other pieces of the Fused Shadow in order to defeat Zant. I had help in more than one instance from Akeilai, Vali's king from a neighboring kingdom. He spoke through a sacred device known as a Gossip Stone. Once Midna, Vali, and I had cleared the land of Twilight and gathered the Fused Shadows, Zant revealed himself and stole the Fused Shadows, wounded Midna, and cursed Vali and me into our other forms.

We sought the aid of Princess Zelda, who gave up all of her powers so that Midna could live, and told me to seek out the Master Sword in the Sacred Grove. The Master Sword dispelled the curse, and allowed Vali and me to transform between our human and creature forms at will. Throughout my adventure, I learned the secrets of combat from the ghost of the Hero of Time. The Hero had lived a life filled with regret, lamenting the fact that he was not remembered as a hero. He passed down proof of his courage and his secret techniques to me.

In order to enter the Twilight Realm and confront Zant, Midna, Vali, and I sought the Mirror of Twilight at the Arbiter's Grounds, but Zant had shattered it into pieces and scattered it across the land. The Sages who had executed Ganondorf appeared before us and told us about Ganondorf's involvement with the darkness which plagued the land. We gathered the pieces of the Mirror and entered the Twilight Realm, where I defeated Zant in single combat. Zant was not fazed, however, boasting that his god Ganon would revive him. In her fury, Midna reclaimed the Fused Shadow and used its power to destroy Zant completely.

Midna, Vali, and I went to the top of Hyrule Castle in order to battle the King of Darkness, who was in possession of Zelda's lifeless body. I was not prepared for Ganondorf to consider striking up a deal with me. He agreed that he would restore the balance between Hyrule and the Twilight Realm as long as I did not fight him and agreed to have Zelda hold open negotiations with him and all important people of Hyrule and the surrounding Kingdoms. If I refused, he would utterly destroy Hyrule and the Twilight Realm, remaking them into the kingdom he wanted. After great consideration and on the advice of Vali, I agreed to the negotiations. It was not certain that I would be able to defeat Ganondorf and I did not wish to take more lives. Ganondorf released Zelda and broke the curse on Midna. He then left, ordering me to send word of when negotiations would be taking place, but not to wait too long or else things would 'get unpleasant'.

Midna was restored to her true form as the beautiful Twilight Princess, and bade farewell to us as she returned to the Twilight Realm. As she left, she shattered the Mirror of Twilight to ensure that its power would never be misused again. Vali returned to his king in the neighboring kingdom, saying that he would keep in touch. I returned to Ordon Village; however, I later departed with my beloved horse, Epona, from my hometown. I am currently located within Hyrule Castle researching the different kingdoms and my ancestors, specifically the Hero of Time. I am currently in charge of traveling around Hyrule and the neighboring kingdoms for the next two months to invite them to negotiations in Hyrule, though whether they will agree to meet or not is a different story all together.

Link of Ordon, Hero of Hyrule


	2. Explosions and Decisions

**AN:** I already know what pairings I want and that is not going to change, but suggestions are welcome. Please leave a review.

**Warnings:** OCs, but there is a major reason why they are included. It's FanFiction, deal with it. May have Yaoi/Shounen-ai/slash/BoyxBoy, no likey no ready. Character Bashing- Zelda, Ilia and Sage bashing. A bit, alright a lot, OoC. Don't yell at me. Swearing. Violence.

* * *

Link sighed as he signed his name at the bottom of the document with a flourish, a feat he was quite proud of. Actually, he was proud of the whole damn document that Zelda was forcing him to write. You see, Link grew up in Ordon Village, a farming community that didn't necessarily teach the kids how to read, write, or do math. When Link was little, he could read and write simple words, but math just flew right over his head. When he was on his journey to save Hyrule from Zant, he learned pretty quickly that if he wanted to get anywhere, he would have to know these basic skills. Midna helped when she could, but she got frustrated with him easily. Not that Link could really blame her; he got frustrated with himself, too. He wasn't properly taught until he met Telma and the Resistance, especially Shad. Telma was more than happy to teach him arithmetic, of which she knew a lot of considering she owned a bar. Shad was a scholar and was eager to teach him reading and writing, saying something about now being useful to the Hero. These skills made traveling and solving riddles less strenuous. He had learned from Telma that not even all of the Knights of Hyrule knew how to read and that it was 'very admirable that such a young man like yourself would want to know these skills', before winking at him in her flirtatious way.

Link shook his head, dislodging the memories with a smile. He rolled up the report before making his way out of the office to give said report to Zelda. The office was attached to his personal quarters that Zelda gave him when he arrived here from Ordon. Once his adventure had ended he had thought that he would be happy with a peaceful life in Ordon, maybe even settle down and start a family, but something just didn't feel right. It was nice for the first few days, but then he started to have this...Itch. This feeling that he couldn't explain, just wouldn't go away. Something was missing and he just couldn't place it, so he ignored it, but that itch grew until he finally realized what was wrong.

* * *

_Flashback_

* * *

It had been a few days after he had settled back down in Ordon Village and autumn had already softly fallen over the tiny village. Not much seemed to change about his life in his hometown now that he was back. He resumed babysitting the kids and taking care of the animals, but most of the villagers treated him differently. The children were more in awe of him then before, always asking for demonstrations of his skills and stories of his adventures, which he was more than happy to do. The adults were now treating him as one of them, a capable and mature adult. Though the way Ilia acted, worried him.

As soon as he had started back on a routine, Ilia had attached herself to Link. At first Link didn't mind, it was nice to see a friend again, but when she refused to leave him alone, he started to get irritated. She would invite herself into his house while he was asleep or otherwise occupied, and clean and organize his things, resulting in him not being able to find any of his equipment. Her excuse for that was that now that he was no longer on an adventure, there was no reason to have such dangerous things lying around. She even started to use his kitchen to cook meals for the both of them, and then making and repairing his clothes for him. Ilia also constantly kidnapped/horsenapped Epona and nagged about not taking care of her properly. Her behavior was infuriating him and he just wanted to explode.

"Hey! Link, are you up?" He could hear the screeching of his childhood friend, Ilia, through the only window in his house.

"Link! The sun has already risen. Get your lazy butt up." Ilia pounded on the door one more time for good measure, before letting herself in.

Link growled in irritation, _Why the hell is she in my house?_ He rolled out of the pile of woolen blankets that made his bed. He shook himself awake like a wolf before he catapulted off the third floor landing to the first floor, a stunt he often pulled off in dungeons. Ilia gave a little screech of fright, before glaring at him, ready to start chastising him.

"Ilia..." He cut her off before she started ranting, and ran his fingers through his messy blonde hair as he leaned against the wall, facing his friend. "You have to stop coming into my house uninvited."

"Well, if I don't come in here to cook and clean, you wouldn't be as healthy as you are now." She let her glare drop before walking fully into the house.

Link scowled at her back, suppressing a growl that wanted to force its way out. "I am fully capable of taking care of myself, thank you. I took care of myself on my own for years."

"But now it's my job to take care of you and make sure you're healthy and the house is clean." She sauntered over to Link, placing a hand on his cheek. She had a look in her eyes that Link couldn't quite place.

This time Link didn't even try to hold back his growl. "What do you mean it's your job to take care of me?"

She flinched away like she had just been slapped, but pulled herself up to full height, a smile on her face. "I'm going to be your wife, silly. That's the reason why you came back, to become mayor and make me your wife." She explained in a voice as if she was explaining this to a child.

Link stood stunned, staring owlishly at her. His brain was completely blank; he had never been in this kind of situation before and he wasn't sure how to proceed.

Believing that the silence was some sort of shy acceptance, Ilia placed a kiss on Link's chapped lips. She moved her lips against his own unresponsive ones. Link felt something snap into place in the back of his head; a rage bubbled in his stomach. Ilia continued to coax Link into kissing her back, molding herself against him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, tangling her fingers in his hair. Finally all her dreams were coming true, and she moaned softly. Link snapped out of his dazed state at the noise Ilia was making. He gripped Ilia's hips, Ilia tried to push closer to him thinking she was finally getting a response, and pushed her away with a growl.

She stumbled back, "Wha-" Doe eyes stared at Link, hurt and confused.

Link, face ashen white, had a hand clamped over his mouth, trying to hold back the bile that was threatening to rise in his throat and glared daggers at his onetime friend. He now knew what part of the Itch was. He wanted someone to love; to love and be loved back; someone who would understand him and everything that he went through. But Ilia was not the one; she was too naive and delusional to fill the hole. She didn't understand Link and she never even tried to. It made him sick to his stomach.

All of this was whirling through his head and his glare intensified as he finally let his hand drop. "WHO. THE. HELL. DO. YOU. THINK. YOU. ARE?" He enunciated each word as he stalked closer to her, making sure to stay at an arm's length away.

Ilia cowered before him, mind blank, unable to work her mouth. "I...I..."

"You cannot just assume that the reason I came back to Ordon was because I wanted to marry you! I don't know what the hell happened to give you that ridiculous idea!" Link took a step back, calming himself down once he noticed that Ilia was completely terrified of him, he felt almost guilty. Almost. "Not once did I give you any indication that I liked you as anything more than a friend. Whatever did I do to give you that idea?"

Ilia gulped, her mind still not cooperating with her, but Link waited wanting to get answers. Once her heart was not trying to leap out of her chest like a frightened rabbit, she smiled wanly at him. "The damsel-in-distress is saved by a knight and the two fall in love; you are my knight-in-shining armor. You saved me and returned my memories." Her eyes sparkled in Link's direction.

"You are my friend. That is why I saved you. I would have saved anyone in your position and you aren't the only person I saved. I saved thousands of people; am I their 'knight-in-shining armor' too?" He tried to stay calm, but it was quite difficult with the word-vomit that was spewing from her mouth, and the look that he now recognized in her eyes as being something bordering on obsessive love.

Ilia glared at him, "You are mine and no one else's! We've been friends since childhood, it was destined to happen!"

Link tried to rein in the rage that was bubbling deep inside of him. Ilia was not someone he could see himself with, ever. He needed someone that was more mature than the woman in front of him. "Ilia, this is going to be hard to hear, but I do not love you and do not want to marry you."

Ilia stood there in stunned disbelief. This couldn't be happening, her whole life shattered right in front of her. She sucked in a harsh breath; she couldn't seem to get enough oxygen into her lungs. The tears fell unbidden down her face, as she sniffled. Link stood there feeling awkward and wretched for making a girl cry, yet satisfied that this girl finally understood. He allowed her time to collect herself and when she was marginally in control, he took a step towards her. Her head snapped up like an animal possessed, a heated look in her eyes. Her hand came up faster than Link could register that she had moved at all.

SMACK!

"YOU BASTARD I DID EVERYTHING FOR YOU. I LEARNED TO COOK, CLEAN, AND SEW SO THAT I WOULD MAKE THE PERFECT WIFE FOR YOU! You are nothing but a bastard!" She screamed as she ran out the house, more tears freely falling.

Link winced as he put his hand to his cheek. That was definitely going to leave a bruise.

* * *

While the Itch diminished a little at the realization that he wanted to have someone to love, it didn't completely disappear. But Link didn't know what else he wanted until a missive from Zelda arrived shortly after the confrontation with Ilia.

Apparently Rusl and Colin had heard the argument as they were walking passed Link's house towards Faron Forest. They were both concerned at Link's outburst and Ilia's reaction, but Link explained what had happened. Rusl didn't agree with the way Link handled the situation, but understood and supported Link in his decision. Colin decided he wanted to stay with Link instead of going with his father.

"I knew when we were in Kakariko Village that you wouldn't be together with Ilia like my mom and dad are together." Colin had said as he petted Epona, watching Link as he stopped practicing with his sword to turn towards him. "But I know someone who you would like. Maybe you could even be together like mom and dad!"

Link chuckled and tousled Colin's hair, "And who would that be?" He decided to entertain Colin awhile, and sat beside him.

"That Zora boy you were always visiting every time you came to Kakariko." He smiled brightly at Link.

Link's mouth fell open, and blush crept on his face, he coughed and turned his face away from the younger blond. "I...err...I don't think that would...ahh...um... work..." He stuttered out. He had never thought of a relationship with another man, let alone another species.

"Why not? You like him don't you?" Colin asked confused, why wouldn't it work out?

"Well... you see..." Link was saved from answering when the postman appeared.

"Greetings, Mr. Link. I have come to deliver a letter from Princess Zelda." He hummed a tiny tune, one that Link had heard a million times before from him, as he pulled out the letter. "Well, my business is concluded! Onward to mail." He turned around and sped off in the opposite direction to deliver more mail.

Link opened the letter on Colin's insistence:

_Dear Link of Ordon,_

_I have considered your proposal of negotiations with the Gerudo and their king, Ganondorf, and have come to the conclusion that it would be beneficial to the Kingdom of Hyrule if negotiations are held. I have also decided that we will hold open negotiations with all the important delegates of Hyrule and neighboring kingdoms. I wish for you to come to the castle so that we may organize for the meeting._

_Onto the second thing I wish to discuss. I have decided that I will hold a coronation so that there will be no dispute over me being Queen of Hyrule. This also has to do with the negotiations, but we will speak more specifically of these matters when you arrive._

_Make Haste,_

_Zelda, Princess of Hyrule_

Link sighed at the formality of the letter; it really was a good thing that he had learned how to read. It seemed that he would be traveling to Castle Town. The Itch flared, before settling down and completely disappearing. Link's eyes widened as the uncomfortable feeling disappeared completely for the first time in days. That's what he wanted: to travel, to go on adventures, solve riddles and puzzles. He had missed it; riding Epona and camping out under the starry night sky. He sighed, a wistful smile across his face. Once he got a taste of adventure he wanted more and couldn't settle for anything less.

"Are you leaving, Link?" Colin asked sadly, feet scuffing against the ground.

Link smiled softly, "Yeah, but don't worry I'll come to visit as often as I can."

* * *

_Flashback End_

* * *

Zelda sat at her desk, reading the report that Link just handed her. She was growing frustrated with the lack of information presented. The bare facts were given and others if it pertain to the actual 'Shadow Invasion,' and nothing else.

"Link," she looked over at the man who sat across from her, "who are these other people you mention? I vaguely remember a fairy following you when we met, so I am going to assume that that is Vali. But who is this Akeilai, this king, you mention? What kingdom does he rule over?" She pierced him with her steely glaze.

Link stared back, unflinching, but refused to elaborate further than he had in the report.

She sighed and decided to let it go, for now. "Since you're reluctant to expand further on your report, let's move on to preparations for negotiations." She watched as Link sat straighter in his seat, and she felt a growing discomfort while being in his presence. For some reason, Link would not talk while he was in her presence unless it was absolutely necessary. It unnerved her and made her uncomfortable, especially when his silence was paired with the all-knowing look in his eyes that he often had. "Ganondorf and the Gerudo's will need to be notified, along with the Zora's, Goron's and your village. We also need to inform the sages of the going-ons and invite them." She jotted a few things down on the papers in front of her as she thought.

"Renado and the Resistance might also be able to contribute something." Link spoke softly, but his voice was strong.

Zelda nodded, jotting more down on the paper before looking back up. "Unfortunately, due to the distance and time, a regular courier will be of no use. Especially coupled with the fact that the bridge to Gerudo Desert is still down and the only way there is using the canon ride." Her face scrunched up in distaste.

Link laughed softly, he didn't understand why people didn't like the ride; it was thrilling. He didn't miss the subtle hints Zelda was giving him. He sighed, "I'll personally deliver the messages. The bridge needs to be rebuilt before the Gerudo's can even step foot into Hyrule, so I can help them rebuild it if I have to." Link shrugged; he didn't really mind.

Zelda nodded. "I do have a time constraint, though." She stood from her seat and walked over to the window, staring out contemplatively. "I wish to have a coronation to officially show that I am the irrefutable ruler of Hyrule and to unite of the people under my rule. I would like everyone there for that."

Link stiffened in his seat and glared at the back Zelda's head. "How long?"

Zelda looked back at him, "In exactly two months from tomorrow is when I will be having my coronation. Negotiations will commence soon after."

Link relaxed in his seat. He had more than enough time to get in contact with everyone he needed to and maybe a few people that he wanted to. He smiled, this was perfect. "If that is all, your highness, I will be taking my leave." Link bowed low and swept out of the office as Zelda waved him out.


End file.
